Jenna Ortega's Divisive 2024 Movie Flop Dropping on Netflix This Thursday

Summary

• In a few days, Netflix will be updated with a new erotic thriller.
• It's a movie starring Jenna Ortega.
• Despite the stellar cast, the movie has been absolutely panned.

Jenna Ortega is undoubtedly one of Hollywood's most talented rising stars. The actress was involved in some pretty big projects as a child, then gained recognition for her performance as young Jane in Jane the Virgin, for her starring role in Disney 's Stuck in the Middle and her participation in Netflix's You. Now we know Ortega as the new Scream Queen, the new Wednesday, and a great dramatic actress with a lot of interesting movies coming up in the next few years.

However, Jenna Ortega's latest feature film role is not her most successful to say the least. And it's not even about the actress' performance, she doesn't deserve such a badly written character and script.

We are talking about the erotic thriller Miller's Girl, in which Ortega starred alongside none other than Martin Freeman. Unfortunately, the movie was panned by critics and audiences alike and flopped at the box office. But the good news is that you no longer have to rent or buy this movie, because it will soon be available on Netflix.

What Is This Movie?

In just a couple of days, on April 25, 2024, the Netflix library will be updated with Miller's Girl, directed and written by Jade Halley Bartlett. Considering the barrage of criticism the film has received, it's fair to say that this is a feature debut for the filmmaker. However, there really is a lot to criticize it for.

The story follows Cairo Sweet (Ortega), an 18-year-old college student who lives alone in a sprawling antebellum mansion and finds solace in literature. She also has a pretty bizarre goal: to seduce a school teacher so she can write an inspirational college admissions essay. And the target is Jonathan Miller (Freeman), Cairo's creative writing teacher and a struggling novelist. He is in awe of her erudition and talent for writing, but seems to be suppressing the deep feelings he has for her.

Cairo, on the other hand, doesn't hide anything she feels, and when her mentor attempts to restrain her, she does whatever it takes to get what she wants, even resorting to blackmail that could ruin not only Miller's career, but his entire life.

If that premise isn't problematic enough for you, just look at the ages of the actors, which aren't much different from those of their characters: Ortega is 21 and Freeman is 52.

Global Box Office Failure and Poor Critical Reception

It was released in US theaters on January 26, 2024, two weeks after its premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival. The film failed both domestically and internationally. With a budget of $4 million, Miller's Girl only managed to gross $856,842.

Even before its release, there was much discussion as to whether the film would be an instant hit or a massive failure due to its highly controversial subject matter. The key was how self-aware the script would be — it wasn't, and Miller's Girl is already one of the lowest-rated releases of 2024. However, perhaps it was this lack of awareness that earned the flick a somewhat better reputation, since the movie would have been utterly bland and insignificant without it.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics score is a miserable 29%. Full of pointless metaphors and twisted figures of speech, the movie strives too hard to be as artsy as Cairo Sweet's writing. All in all, Jade Halley Bartlett could have easily dropped that from the script. Or toss the script into the shredder altogether.